I’m a 54-year-old carpenter, and while I was on a job picking up and putting away tools, I was in a hurry and suddenly turned too fast (like a basketball player quickly changing directions) and immediately felt pain in my right knee. So much so I had to stay at home from work for the rest of the week. I immediately called a friend who is a physical therapist I go to church with, and she recommended I get a knee brace and rest and take it easy until she could take a look at it after service on Sunday. After looking at it, she strongly suspected I had torn/injured my meniscus. I stayed off of my knee and rested it for the next week/week and a half and slowly returned to work. After a few weeks, I grew careless and didn’t have my brace on and bent down too far while making a cut with my saw and aggravated my knee to the point the pain was even worse.
Some older men in my Bible Study continually suggested I go to a doctor and have it looked at. I’m not a fan of doctors, but out of their concern, I accepted their suggestion and went. They took an x-ray, and the doctor examined it and concluded I had indeed injured my meniscus ($300 out of pocket to tell me what I already suspected). He said I had two choices. I could live with it or have surgery right away. If I didn’t do anything, he said I would eventually tear it so that surgery would be inevitable. Since we don’t have insurance, we asked the cost of such a surgery. He estimated around $10,000 (U.S.).
When my wife asked if physical therapy could heal the tear, he answered, “No.” Not believing him, she immediately came home and got on the internet and started researching. This is when she ran across Martin Kielema’s website and his protocol for healing the knee. I started incorporating his physical therapy exercises along with what my friend from church had given me to do as well as massaging my knee with Arnica cream, and we immediately got a good deal on a stationary bike that I rode two times a day for 20 minutes each.
After just three weeks of doing the exercises and riding the bike and massaging the knee, I could already tell a world of difference in that the knee was healing on its own, despite the doctor telling me that it couldn’t happen. Two months later, I was back to playing golf again with no issues. I also started taking two supplements: glucosamine sulfate for inflammation and hyaluronic acid for joint lubrication. Both of those have made a big difference as well. I went off of both for a few weeks, and my knee joint was tight. After being back on the supplements here recently, it’s feeling much better. I still do all the exercises and ride my bike daily.
I’m writing this to let others know not to believe the lie that a meniscus tear cannot be healed with physical therapy, exercise, and supplements. It can! Doctor’s in the U.S. promote surgery because this is how they make money. So, of course, they are not going to encourage someone to practice personal responsibility and obtain healing through natural means. I will admit that it’s not always easy. I’m crunched for time in the morning. Some evenings I come home so tired from work I don’t want to do anything but relax in front of the tv. But I make myself get up and ride my bike and do the physical therapy because I know if I don’t, I know what the alternative will be, and I can’t afford it, nor do I want it.